Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory February 25, 2025 U.S. VOTES AGAINST U.N. RESOLUTION CONDEMNING RUSSIA FOR UKRAINE WAR. Really. We did that. The Russian economy is on the brink of collapse but Trump is riding to Putin’s rescue — and fast destroying the largely successful 80-year post-War order. At home, everything he touches dies. Not least the FBI. An Obituary For the FBI: The 117-year-old Federal Bureau of Investigation, long heralded as the nation’s premier national law enforcement agency — an avowedly nonpartisan, independent investigator that for decades has pursued gangsters, mafioso, Nazis, terrorists, spies, cybercriminals, and corrupt politicians without fear, favor or political malice — died over the weekend. . . . The Sunday night announcement that Dan Bongino — a bombastic MAGA podcast host, fiery right-wing troll, one-time Secret Service agent, and three-time failed Republican congressional candidate — would be the new FBI deputy director and join the newly confirmed director Kash Patel, another MAGA loyalist better known for his hucksterism of Trump merchandise than his management, leadership, or law enforcement experience, and lead the FBI marked an almost certainly permanent alteration of the fabric of the institution. In the entire modern history of the bureau, the deputy director — the #2 person who serves as the day-to-day operational leader of the FBI — has always been a civil servant and career special agent, one who has worked his (they’ve always been men) way up the ranks over a two-decade career and is deeply familiar with the workings of the bureau, its wide-ranging missions, and curious culture. All previous modern directors, meanwhile, have had deep experience with the FBI — working in senior roles in law enforcement, atop the Justice Department, or as federal judges. Patel and Bongino . . . bring none of that acquired expertise or wisdom to the role; neither has worked for the FBI for a single day and neither has meaningful senior management experience. Both have been installed, effectively, to troll the libs . . . Don’t take my word for it — Bongino said it himself in 2018: “My entire life right now is about owning the libs.” He added then: “We win, you lose, the new rules are in effect.” That’s just an excerpt. It gets worse. So worth reading in full. If you wanted to become a dictator like the men you admire — Putin / Orban / Kim Jong Un / Xi — isn’t this exactly what you would do? We once held these truths to be self-evident: That democracy was better than authoritarianism; that murderous kleptocrats were the bad guys; that those who died for their country were heroes, not suckers; that beating cops defending democracy would be unforgiveable; that the Supreme Court, Justice Department and FBI should be above politics. Now, not all of us do. Putin is winning. Trump, one of his former Chiefs of Staff asserts, is “fascist to the core.” And, yes, though not a voracious reader, he for years kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside. If you missed Sunday’s column, here are some things we can do.